A Foamy Mess
by whatever55
Summary: Secret Santa 2012 gift to sheytune. Hodgins' experiment takes an interesting turn leading to unexpected confrontations.


**So this is my submission for the 2012 Bones Secret Santa. The prompts came from Sheytune. I kind of got an idea combining 2 of the 3 you gave and well then I was typing a lot of this during Hurricane Sandy before it got worse where I was (at this point there was only one boat in our back yard!) and couldn't help but think 'hmm how do I get in the third or at least part of the third one in too'. This is what came out. If it sounds like I've lost my mind... well it's a distinct possibility so I'll use that as my excuse... No idea if this is at all what you were expecting but I hope you enjoy it! It's set a little further into the future. I'm posting this early since we finally got internet back and are getting more settled.**

**Let me know what you think!**

**Please review… the reviews would really make my week if not my month!**

**Title: A Foamy Mess**

**Summary: Secret Santa 2012 gift to sheytune. Hodgins' experiment takes an interesting turn leading to unexpected confrontations. **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own… yet… one day I may convince Hanson… one day…**

* * *

Hodgins was in Heaven.

Ok, so he was really only in the lab, but today it was Heaven.

Cam was out at meetings all day.

Booth and Brennan were in Maine on a case that seemed to be going nowhere. Christine was therefore staying with them because they didn't want to disrupt her school schedule. They had also thought they'd only be gone for a day or two.

They left on Monday and called her every day, most days multiple times. It was now the weekend though which meant that Michael and Christine didn't have school.

Angela also wasn't in the lab.

He had full reign of the lab and couldn't wipe the smile from his face.

He didn't have anything else to process for the case and no boss watching him like a hawk to make sure he doesn't blow up the lab.

He wasn't planning on blowing the lab up, but he was planning on taking full advantage of having the lab to himself that day.

Man, he loved having free reign of the lab!

He brought the kids to the lab with him and brought them into the room that he had set everything up in the night before after Cam left.

"What are we doing, dad?" Michael asked his father.

"Well, kiddo, we're gonna be a little bad and break some rules," Hodgins told Christine and Michael, squatting down to their level and smiling widely. He watched as Christine's eyes widened and Michael get a grin that must have rivaled his own grin.

"But, my mom says that rules need to be followed. That they are needed 'cause they make everything orgnized," Christine told Hodgins, mispronouncing 'organized'. He just blinked. It figured that Brennan would already lecture her on the importance of rules and not breaking them when she's barely hit the age of five.

"Well, we're not really going to be breaking them completely. We're just going to be bending them slightly. Plus we don't have to tell your mom. It can be our little secret, right, munchkin?"

"What are we doing, dad?!" Michael asked, getting impatient and fidgety.

"Well, I was thinking, while the bosses are away let the little micey play!" Hodgins told them excitedly.

"But we aren't mice, and my mom says that mice shouldn't be running 'round the lab. They're dirty and can namitate vidence," Christine argued, mispronouncing 'contaminate evidence'.

"I just mean that we can have some fun. Now both of you, see that clear wall?" he asked them. They both nodded. "That's a protective barrier and I'm about to show you a really sweet science experiment and after I'll teach you how to do it on a much smaller scale. It won't be as cool since it will be smaller but you'll be able to do it as well 'cause it'll be safer. Now go stand behind there and you'll see two pairs of goggles to protect your eyes, put them on just in case. They both ran behind the barrier, Christine forgetting all about what her mom would say about breaking rules and excited by the prospect of what Hodgins was about to show them.

Hodgins watched as they stood directly behind the large barrier in the middle where he left the goggles. "Stay right there," he told them and they nodded. He put on a pair of goggles himself as well.

Hodgins then took out a very large beaker and filled it with hydrogen peroxide at a very high concentration. "What color foam you guys want to see?" he asked the kids.

"Red!" Michael shouted quickly with Christine nodding dramatically next to him. Hodgins chuckled quietly at how excited they were already even though they had no idea what he was about to do.

"Red it is!" He put some red food dye into the beaker as well along with some liquid dish soap. He then shook the beaker lightly to mix it together. He took out the solution he mixed last night from a cabinet and looked to the kids again. They were standing behind the barrier with wonder on their faces. "Ready?" They both nodded quickly.

Hodgins quickly poured the mixture in and quickly took many steps back.

There was a small pause before foam shot up from the beaker. He glanced back to the kids and saw their eyes were wide and their jaws dropped in wonder at the foam shooting up.

"Sweet!" Michael yelled.

"Wow!" Christine had called at the same time, a little more subdued than Michael, but no less amazed.

"Dad!" Michael said quickly right after. He sounded surprised and amused about something and Hodgins couldn't figure out what had him reacting like that.

Hodgins quickly figured it out as the foam came down on the top of his head and just kept coming. He winced at the foamy mess falling on his head.

He winced more at the sound of a voice in the doorway.

"You better not be doing anything that has the potential to harm my granddaughter," Max spoke.

Hodgins jumped and spun around to face Max as he spoke.

"Max! No, of course not! What are you doing here?!"

"Grandpa!" Christine yelled from behind the barrier, not leaving where she was due to Hodgins' instructions.

"Come on out," Hodgins told them when he noticed that the foam was no longer bursting from the beaker or dripping from the ceiling. He must have slightly miscalculated something when trying to supersize the height that the foam would reach. "Just stay clear of the foam, don't want to get it all over you."

Christine quickly rushed from behind the barrier after removing the goggles. She threw herself into his arms as she reached him. Max chuckled.

"Whoa, easy there, kiddo. Getting old here. Soon you might knock me over."

"But, Grandpa, you're already old, so how would me knocking you over have anything to do with your age. Wouldn't it be 'cause I was getting bigger?"

Hodgins tried to prevent the snort at Christine's logic, but failed miserably. Max glared at him.

"Yeah, keep snorting, but I ought to," he stopped himself briefly looking at the two kids in the room, "give good old Columbus a call for possibly putting Christine and Michael in danger."

"Whoa—" Hodgins was cut off from defending himself from another voice in the doorway.

"What's this I hear about a call to Columbus? Not a chance, Cherie. I don't want to have to prosecute your—" Caroline started to say coming into the room. Max cut her off.

"Little ears, Caroline, little ears," he warned her.

"Who's Columbus?" Christine asked, looking up at Max.

"No one, don't worry about it," Max told his granddaughter.

"But he's got to be someone if you're calling him. You don't call no one. You can't because there's no one to call."

"He's just someone that gets things that need to be done done. Don't tell your mother you heard me mention him."

"Mom say's lying is always wrong," Christine argued.

"Well, don't worry. Unless she asks about him and you say who you aren't really lying. If you don't mention him and she doesn't ask it's not really lying." Hodgins couldn't help but to snort at Max's ignorance. Brennan would never agree with that statement and Hodgins knew it. He also knew that the kids had big mouths and one of them was bound to say something to either her or Angela and if Angela heard she'd definitely let Brennan know about it. Hodgins knew he should have held the snort better when Max turned his glare back to him.

"I don't see why you're snorting. Something amusing to you about putting the kids in danger? One call to Columbus and—"

"Cherie, you know I don't like repeating myself but I am going to anyway on the assumption that you are going senile and don't remember me saying it the first time. You are not calling Columbus because I am not prosecuting his sorry," she paused for a minute, letting them fill in the blank since the kids were still in the room.

"What's the matter? Afraid you'll lose again since he was acquitted last time because of another viable suspect and you lost," he said to her. She laughed somewhat at that statement.

"Please!" she exclaimed, laughing. "Only reason he got off last time was because of his daughter and do you really think she'll believe your story of Bug Man putting the kids in danger. If anything she'd let Columbus rot in jail longer for doing what he does for no reason or even for you bringing him up in front of the kids. No way she'd incriminate herself again. It would be a slam dunk and a waste of my time."

"I—"

"Drop it, Cherie. You are not calling Columbus so that I don't have to prosecute both of you and waste my valuable time on a worthless case with the most idiotic motive I've heard in a while… He endangered the kids? Come on Max! They were behind a barrier that basically goes up to the ceiling all the way in the center with goggles on just in case. The only one that the idiot endangered was himself."

"But he—"

"Nope, Cherie, stop talking before you dig yourself a bigger hole with me or your daughter 'cause she will find out at some point—God, I wish I could be a fly on the wall for that one— and then is going to have some words for you. Quit while you're only three feet under instead of ten." She then turned her attention to Hodgins and he wanted to cringe at her look. "As for you, what were you thinking? I realize your geniusness figured the boss was out let's have some fun, but you can't possibly think she won't notice the foam still dripping from the ceiling." As if to support her point another glob of the foam came dripping from the ceiling, landing on Hodgins' head again. "Speaking of the boss, the meetings finished early today and I just spoke to her. She's planning on coming in for a little while a little later. Have fun explaining this one to her boys. I've got other people to go harass." She started walking for the door. As she was leaving, Max spoke again.

"Can I at least call Angel's dad?"

"It's Angela and you'd be up to six feet if you do," Caroline told him as she continued to leave.

"So is that a yes?" he called after her. She ignored him and left. Max looked back to Hodgins. "That was a yes right? She only said I couldn't be ten feet under."

"I don't think so," Hodgins told him, really not wanting to deal with his father-in-law giving him another tattoo. There wouldn't even be a legitimate reason for his punishment either since he had not actually put the kids in any danger. "What are you doing here anyway, Max?" Hodgins questioned him, now finally realizing that it was kind of strange for him to just show up randomly to the lab especially while his daughter was away.

"Oh, Tempe called this morning. She had promised Christine that they could see the new exhibit in the museum today and didn't want to break her promise if she still wanted to go today so she asked me if I would mind going with her if she wanted." He looked to both kids. "What do you both say?" he asked them. "You want to go check it out while your dad," he said, looking at Michael, "figures out how he's going to get himself out of this mess with the boss."

"Yeah! Can we dad?" Michael asked excitedly. Hodgins looked between the three of them. He wanted to say no because he was terrified of what Max would get up to with them but didn't want to say no and disappoint the kids. He also feared what Max would do to him if he said no.

"No calling Angela's dad if I say yes and have fun?" Hodgins asked, looking at Max. He couldn't believe that he was actually pretending to only be thinking about letting them go with him when he already decided that he'd let them go.

"You're no fun. I'm sure it would be a decent tattoo this time. Maybe one of the kids?"

"How'd you find out about that anyway?"

"I have my sources. So me and the kids will be back in a few hours. Have fun cleaning." Max looked to the kids. "You both ready to check out the new exhibit!" he asked them excitedly, already leaving knowing that they would be following quickly.

"Yeah!" they both shouted, running after him. The three quickly left the room with Hodgins watching.

He looked up to see the damage to the ceiling just in time for a new glob of foam hit him in the face. He still couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face.

He really loved having free reign of the lab when the boss was out. He probably should have hidden the grin later however when Cam came around and started yelling. He really didn't care however, he had enjoyed the foam too much and couldn't wait until Booth and Brennan were out of town again and Cam was in meetings again so that he could bring the kids back and do another interesting experiment with them…

* * *

**Two days later…**

"So, did you have fun with Michael while we were on the case?" Booth asked his daughter on the way back from picking her up after they returned home.

"Yeah! We went to the lab too and blowed up foam!"

"Blew." Brennan corrected automatically. "Who approved of the experiment?"

"Michael's dad said something about little mice playing while the boss was in meetings. I don't know what that means."

Booth couldn't help but to snort at his daughter's comment. "Figures Hodgins would have some fun when all the bosses were out and I wasn't here to threaten him for potentially hurting the kids," Booth told Brennan. Christine continued talking.

"When the foam hit the ceiling is when grandpa came in. He said something about calling up a friend of his but then Ms. Julian came and told him that he couldn't call him up because she didn't want to waste her time being a prosecutor for a simple case where she would win easily."

"And what was this friend's name, did grandpa say?" Booth asked his daughter, fearing the answer.

"Columbus," she told him simply, not understanding the implications.

Booth looked to Brennan

"Bones?" he asked her. She stayed silent.

"Mom?" Christine asked. The silence continued until Brennan decided to break it with something more positive.

"How about I treat us to some Mac and Cheese tonight?"

"Yeah!" Booth and Christine shouted at the same time. Brennan couldn't help but smile back and the day progressed with a lightness in the air that had been missing since Christine had mentioned Columbus.

* * *

**Much later that night**

He was woken by the sound of his phone ringing. He looked at the clock and saw that it was nearing three in the morning.

"Hello?" he asked, not awake at all and not planning on paying too much attention to the call.

"What possessed you to discuss your previous actions in front of Christine?"

Max was quickly awake at the sound of his daughter's voice and sat up quickly in his bed.

"I can—" he was cut off by his daughter's hushed voice.

"I don't have much time before I have the potential to wake Booth up. He thought he cooled me down enough so I had to wait for him to fall asleep before calling you because he felt it was unnecessary. Give Columbus a message for me and tell him that if he makes another appearance that Booth will make him wish that he didn't and that I will be more than happy to hide the body. I do have planned the perfect murder."

"But you just said that Booth had no problem with him being mentioned."

"Mentioned, yes. Coming back, I'm sure I can convince him is so far out of line and he trusts that I would only ask him of it if it were necessary. We work well together and have a good understanding of each other. He will be more than willing to help."

"You wouldn't really…" Max trailed off, not knowing how he wanted to finish that statement.

"Parent's protect their kids, isn't that what you said. Even if it hurts them. Michael losing a good father because of your ridiculous notion that Christine was in danger when there was no danger to either of the children during the experiment is not an acceptable outcome and in order to protect Michael and Christine, myself and Booth are prepared to do whatever is necessary. It might hurt me to do it but if it's to protect them. You wouldn't want me to be hurt, would you?"

Max knew when he lost. "Message received, loud and clear, Tempe. I'm sorry. You don't have to worry about Columbus making an appearance. He's long gone."

"Good," she told him. Max then heard the dial tone and knew that she had hung up. He also knew that he was going to need to work for a while to show her that he was serious about Columbus being gone. He flopped down on his bed again and shut his eyes.

* * *

Brennan scooted back down in the bed after getting off the phone with her father. She thought that she had stayed quiet enough and that Booth slept through her. She realized that she was wrong when he rolled over and curled his arm around her waist.

"So, your dad call your bluff?" he asked, sleepily.

"How'd you know I was bluffing?"

"I know you, Bones. You aren't capable of murdering your family and he's your family."

"Well, apparently you know me better than he does because he didn't call the bluff," she said. Booth thought she sounded a little disappointed that her own father thought that she would be able to kill him.

"Or he just chose to give it to you and agree that you are right." He stopped talking for a minute and then got an idea to present her with. "What if we invite him over for lunch next weekend?" Brennan instantly knew he was thinking something.

"What are you thinking?" she asked him.

"I'm just thinking that I haven't cleaned my rifle in a while and that it could use a good one next weekend and that if Max just happens to come by that maybe the message might be reinforced a little bit more."

"Just make sure Christine doesn't see it. We don't need to scare her."

"Will do. Night Bones."

"Night, Booth. Thanks."

"Anytime Bones."

They both quickly fell asleep, having no idea that Max had been sleeping off a hangover courtesy of Angela's dad and Caroline, sporting a new tattoo of Caroline's face that read in the banner '#1 Prosecutor. Be afraid Columbus'. No way was he going to be calling on Columbus anyway after that.

* * *

**So not sure this is what you were expecting when you made your requests but hope you enjoyed… please as I said make my week and month and review please!**


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